3D-printed cartilage could restore ears, shoulders, knees and nose

A new technique for 3D printing cartilage could "revolutionise tissue engineering and regenerative medicine".

Cartilage is pretty important. It provides structure to parts of the body and softens the joints between bones. When cartilage is damaged, it can cause a lot of pain. And, unfortunately, cartilage does not regenerate well on its own, since it doesn't have a blood supply.

The field of bioprinting -- fabricating biological material with 3D printing -- is increasingly looking like an excellent option for restoring damaged cartilage. Last year, the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zurich developed a method of 3D printing cartilage from biopolymers and cartilage cells.

Now a team, led by Paul Gatenholm at the Wallenberg Wood Science Center in Sweden, has developed a similar method and demonstrated its viability as a medical treatment by testing it on mice. They presented their research this week at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

"Three-dimensional bioprinting is a disruptive technology and is expected to revolutionise tissue engineering and regenerative medicine," Gatenholm said in a statement. 

"Our team's interest is in working with plastic surgeons to create cartilage to repair damage from injuries or cancer. We work with the ear and the nose, which are parts of the body that surgeons today have a hard time repairing. But hopefully, they'll one day be able to fix them with a 3D printer."

Current methods of regenerating cartilage involve implanting cartilage-building cells in a scaffold and growing them in conditions similar to those found in the human body. The 3D-printing technique would print cells and scaffold together in the one step.

The problem Gatenholm's team found was that this would often result in a blobby mess. Creating a scaffold recipe that would keep its structure was key. To do so, they turned to plants. Using polysaccharides from brown algae and cellulose fibrils from wood, the mixture still kept its shape.

To see how it responded in a living system rather than a laboratory setting, the team implanted their samples into living mice. Sure enough, the cells survived and began to produce cartilage. The team was then able to increase this cartilage production by introducing stem cells found in bone marrow.

The technique is not quite ready for testing in humans, but Gatenholm is working with a plastic surgeon to make sure that any clinical trials comply with all regulations.

Source: Cnet

Make sure your online accounts get deleted when you die

Not everyone wants to leave this earth with their online accounts being managed by relatives and next-of-kin, or just floating around on the Internet forever. If you're the kind of person who likes your privacy -- even in death -- you should probably make some plans to have all of your online and social media accounts nuked when you pass away.

Some services, such as Google and Facebook, let you set up your eventual account deletion before you get anywhere close to death. Other services will keep your account forever unless an immediate family member or the executor of your estate requests it be removed. Here's how to make sure all your loose ends are tied up, and that nobody ever gets hold of your top-secret/possibly incriminating emails and Twitter direct messages.

'It's prehistoric!' Today's teens react to Windows 95

Teens give Windows 95 a spin and learn about a time when dial-up Internet and patience were required to run a desktop computer.

Way before we all had easy-to-use laptops and Wi-Fi, there were desktop computers that used Windows 95.

Those of use who still remember using Windows 95 might recall how long it would take computers to boot up and the sweet sounds of a modem connecting to the Internet.

In this latest "Teens React to Technology" video from new-media production duo Benny and Rafi Fine (also known as The Fine Brothers), we see today's teens try to figure out how to use a computer running Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system.

"Windows 95 had its 20th anniversary last year, so we got our hands on an old system and showed it to teenagers who were not even alive in 1995," Benny Fine told. "The results, were pretty great and also makes you feel quite old."

Teen actor Karan Brar, age 17, guest stars on the episode. Brar is best know for his roles in "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" films and the Disney Channel TV series "Jessie" and "Bunk'd."

When Brar first turned on the old computer to get started he commented in the video, "Everything looks so dull and ancient."

Some highlights of the video include a teen thinking this was the first computer ever made, complaints of how long it takes to boot up, not understanding how to get to the Internet without Wi-Fi, and not knowing what a modem is. 

"It's scary to think that Wi-Fi is like so vital to us now," Morgan, age 19, said in the video. "If you go somewhere and they don't have Wi-Fi, that's the worst thing that can ever happen to you."

While it's easy to mock the teens in the video for not knowing how to use the kind of computers that many of us older folks were used to back in the day, that doesn't mean they don't appreciate the tech relic placed before them.

"Those who know technology should know something beyond the current, they need to know part of the past," Ethan, age 18, said in the video. 

Trying out Windows 95 sparked an interesting discussion about how technology has evolved.

"One teen reminded us all we may be upset with them for taking this old tech for granted, but it's not their technology," Fine added. "We may have felt the same way about things 20 years older than us when we were teens."

Source: Cnet

Get to know the Galaxy S7's Always-On Display

A feature we're sure to see more of this year is a display that never truly powers off. Let's take a closer look at Samsung's version.

According to Samsung, the average smartphone owner checks his or her device nearly 150 times a day: A quick press of the power button to view the time here, and double tap not the screen to view notifications there, apparently adds up fast.

Samsung's solution for this obsessive checking and waking our smartphones is through a feature it calls Always-On Display.

As the name implies, Samsung's latest Galaxy devices are equipped with the fancy new feature.

After locking your device, the screen will remain dimly lit. The default setting is to display the current time, with the information moving around on the screen every few seconds. Alerts for missed calls and text messages are also placed on the screen, with a few caveats (more on that in a minute).

Google Docs adds automatic outline feature

It's now easier to navigate lengthy documents with Google Docs on the Web and Android.

I use Google Docs for all of my writing, from CNET blog posts and other writing for work to quick lists and tried-and-true recipes. I opened up Google Docs this morning to start my daily labor to find an outline panel on the left side of my document. It had recognized the bold headers in my document and used them to create an outline that I could use to jump to different parts of my document without needing to scroll. It's a convenient time saver for browsing through lengthy documents.

If Google Docs doesn't offer this new feature upon your next visit, you can enable it by going to Tools > Document outline. The Outline panel sits to the left of your document and lets you jump to different spots with a single click.